Poor Green Arrow. We’ve discussed before how – when he was created in 1941 – he was something of a Batman clone. With his sidekick, a secret cave, and even his own Arrow-Car, Green Arrow had little unique about him – simply a blend of the Dark Knight and Robin Hood. But it would be hugely unfair to describe Green Arrow as a ‘bad’ invention or even a ‘naff’ one. Originality may not be its strong point, but there has always been potential with the character. Writer Dennis O’Neil and artist Neal Adams discovered that for themselves in the early-1970s when Green Arrow – now bearded and enjoying a social conscience – teamed up with Green Lantern to look out for the little guys in society. Although once a rich millionaire playboy, Oliver Queen has guilt over his riches, and he uses his entrepreneurship and heroism to better the lives of those underneath him. Although transformed by O’Neil and Adams, DC was always cautious about giving the Emerald Archer a platform of his own. While featuring in stories from Adventure Comics and World’s Finest, he never got his own title or miniseries. That was to change in 1983…
Green Arrow (vol 1) 1-4 was a four-issue miniseries published from May to August 1983. Written by the famed Batman writer Mike W. Barr, periodical Batman artist Trevor Von Eeden is the penciller, and ubiquitous Dark Knight legend Dick Giordano is the inker. It was always edited by Len Wein, who… you get the joke. While the comparisons to the Caped Crusader were forever present for Green Arrow, this miniseries was the first chance for the Emerald Archer to shine in his own title. Buried by the groundbreaking run of Mike Grell, and later a flawless stint by Kevin Smith, is this miniseries a classic lost in time?
In an age when DC were still finding their feet in the world of the miniseries, Green Arrow (vol 1) 1-4 does much of what you’d expect. It begins as if we know very little at all about the protagonist and their world. For Batman and Superman, that attitude of storytelling might seem odd or even offensive. But for Green Arrow, perhaps a reconveying of his origin story wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. Green Arrow (vol 1) spends time simply setting the scene. Star City – the home of Green Arrow – isn’t too different to Gotham City when you see it. Full of criminals and evil deeds, Green Arrow heads onto the streets to fight crime, specifically drug-related crime. Including this in the story adds to Green Arrow’s world and it make it different from your typical Batman stories. Right from the start – with its grimmer-than-usual lighting, drugs, and gangsters not choosing to wear brightly lit costumes, the mood of this miniseries appears dark and unique. Upon arriving home, Green Arrow takes off the costume and is back to being Oliver Queen – no longer a millionaire but a man living on the frontline in shabby housing. Oliver is met with a lawyer and a note, specifically an invitation to a will reading. As President of Horton Chemicals, Abby Horton was an old woman who died very rich. But on a more personal note, she was one of Oliver Queen’s best friends. Originally associated through business, Oliver became very close to Abby and she helped him become a more moral and kinder person. All this is told in flashback, followed totally predictably by the events of Green Arrow’s origin. We all know the story – a desert island, a man learning to survive, and returning from the penumbra bigger and better. There’s nothing new in terms of plot there, but the whole Abby storyline is completely new. Oliver also became romantically close to Abby’s daughter, Cindy. While it’s a testament to the quality of plotting here that no future writers of Green Arrow have mentioned Abby Horton and her family, I do have a problem with this forced romance. It’s common knowledge that Oliver Queen is a ladies’ man. That’s what we expect, but I don’t think placing Oliver in a sexual tension-based relationship with an elderly woman is particularly wise, especially since he is bedding her daughter. This all feels rather forced. Nonetheless, Abby’s fortune really is the cause of the story. Although Oliver broke up sourly with Cindy, they are forced to meet once again at the will meeting. Cindy, her husband, and the rest of the Horton family listen to Abby’s final financial gifts. To their annoyance, Oliver wins the grand prize – most of Abby’s fortune and her company. Her family are dismayed, but the mystery begins when it’s revealed that Abby changed her will only days before her death. Suspicious? Seems so. Things get even more suspicious when a hired assassin tries to kill Green Arrow, only for the assassin himself to die upon nearly revealing the identity of the true mastermind. Within a matter of pages, Barr sets up a decent mystery, even if some of the plot content is odd, especially for a four-issue miniseries in the 1980s.
Green Arrow (vol 1) 2 begins with Oliver Queen now a millionaire once more. But his main concern is to work out two mysteries – why was Oliver’s name added so late to the will by Abby, and who is the person who is really behind her death? Sadly, these two plots aren’t linked together by Barr – it would have been more interesting for Oliver Queen to perhaps become entangled in this murder mystery as a potential suspect. The family don’t mention this as a possibility, which you thought they might have done given their dislike of Oliver. Nevertheless, Green Arrow investigates the police records to discover the cause of Abby’s death. Although suspicious, he finds no answer, but it does lead to a clue. Oliver decides that it’s best to interview Abby’s family – if cliches tell us anything, then it's always one of the family behind the crime. When it comes to cast and characters, Green Arrow (vol 1) certainly doesn’t shine. I’ve already discussed the problems I have with Oliver Queen, Abby, and her daughter Cindy. But at least those personalities are memorable. Nearly everyone else in this tale is hugely forgettable. That’s not just because they aren’t vibrant or intriguing people, but also because they do little in the tale. Mike Barr does include a good character in the form of Black Canary, by now a staple of Green Arrow’s world. However, her appearances are so sporadic and random that she adds little of value either. After much plot of the first issue, the second issue seems much slower and duller. But when Abby’s son is suddenly killed, the apparent perpetrator is slightly surprising…
Enter Count Vertigo. Always considered one of Green Arrow’s most famous archfoes, his appearance certainly adds a degree of flair to things. Sadly, before even Green Arrow (vol 1) 3 can even begin, Green Arrow has seen him off. Yep. He’s only a threat for about six or seven pages. While he may seem a tad out of place in this kind of tale, his brief appearance is welcome. But it should have been much longer and much more cataclysmic. He should have had a deeper link to the events of the story. It is revealed that Count Vertigo has been forcefully aiding the Russians and his mission was to search for Horton Chemical’s secret substance. He, in fact, had nothing to do with the death of Abby’s son. Count Vertigo was basically just a spy – the killer is still at large. With that, Count Vertigo’s point in the story is over. What a pathetic waste of a villain. Why include him at all if his impact on events is to be so minute? This is sadly weak storytelling on the part of Mike Barr, and a chance to reinvigorate some energy into the story is forfeit. We’re back to the murder mystery, but also to what Horton Chemicals is up to and how they got the attention of the Russians.
The disappointment of Count Vertigo and the failure of the plot – at this half-way point – to really move in any meaningful direction, sadly makes Green Arrow (vol 1) 3 and 4 pretty boring affairs. Oliver Queen uses his new influence within Horton Chemicals really to do nothing of value. He attracts the further hatred of Abby’s family by wasting much of her fortune on parties and nightclubbing. This is basically to get the hired assassins off his back, but surely Oliver does remain a figure of interest to them since he is in charge of the business. He becomes even more of a target when he discovers the secret of Horton Chemicals – Abby’s long-dead genius husband developed an oil substitute energy source. Barr links this all into the Cold War and it explains why the Russians are targeting Oliver Queen. This is all very good, but by this point, the Russian involvement in the story is moot since they aren’t behind the murders. It basically renders much of this stuff pointless because of that. This is a common problem in the final two issues. Any structure vanishes as the story leaps from one story point to another, going on endless tangents about the Cold War, oil, and family feuds. In short, the plot moves too much away from the murder mystery and ends up drowning in its own dense oil of exposition and endless plotting.
Green Arrow (vol 1) 4 finally takes us back to the murder mystery. Although that part of the story hasn’t developed much due to the springing up of other plot points, it’s at least good to be back on track. Green Arrow finds the foe he is looking for on a ship in the middle of the ocean. He – with Black Canary (remember her?) – storm the ship and we’re witness to one of the very few moments of fight-scenes in the whole four issues. It involves a pirate supervillain called Captain Lash. This brought a smile to my face – this camp fifties-type creation is thrown into the mix without a mention or even much satire. It’s impossible to take Captain Lash – with his silly costume and strange accent – seriously at all. He’s there just as a target for Green Arrow, someone to hit. I believe this is the only issue in DC’s history where Captain Lash blesses the pages of a comic. Nobody has ever heard of him, and his featuring in this story has no purpose, but what entertainment he is.
The final issue brings things to a close when it’s revealed that Cindy and her terrible husband are behind everything. Shocker of the century! Although that remark may forever bleed sarcasm, the story does pull something of a surprise out of the bag when Cindy kills her own husband so she can claim all the riches, only for her husband, in his last seconds, to fire back. So, they both die. That’s a surprising end, but the motives are anything but that. Jealously of fame, money, and power are the motives here. There’s nothing imaginative to comment about the villains of the miniseries really – it’s textbook stuff. Oliver Queen was placed in charge of the company because Abby realised that her children – specifically Cindy – would try to kill her so she could inherit her money and make more from Horton Chemical’s secret formula. Now that it’s all taken care of, Green Arrow gives the company to the less-evil side of the family and what’s done is done.
I commented a moment ago that the story’s ending is “textbook stuff.” In a way, that’s the overriding issue with the whole miniseries. The murder mystery starts off well because the motives are unclear and there is a huge cast of characters present, all of whom you’d hope to have interesting stories to tell which link them to the plot. Sadly, neither of these positives come to much good. Nearly every character that Barr writes is dull, and it’s made entirely worse by the fact that most of them barely receive much time in the spotlight. Cindy and her husband – although revealed as the masterminds – receive barely any coverage after the first issue. The only reason you’re surprised they’re behind it is because you’d forgotten their very existence. As for the once-cloudy motives, once you learn more about Abby and her company, the natural human love of money and fame comes into the equation. All of these aspects make this miniseries almost more than textbook stuff. It's beyond cliché. The story begins with a grim mood that reflects the world of Green Arrow well, but by the halfway mark, the murder mystery story is dulled by an absence of storytelling, and Barr spends far too much time exploring a pointless and unsatisfactory plot with the Russians and Count Vertigo, whose handling of here is the most offensive thing going. Now, this all may sound very negative. There is much to be critical of here, but never to a point of severe hatred or even dislike. Aside from one or two aspects, the story isn’t that bad. It’s just its ordinariness and cliched approach which creates the most ill-feeling.
To round off, it’s worth looking briefly at the character and personality of Green Arrow here. Barr has clearly written Oliver Queen to be the same vigilante that Dennis O’Neil pioneered, rather than a return to the aged fifties style of ‘old chum’ super-heroism. I do think that Green Arrow shines here, both for how aggressive he can sometimes be, but also his humour too. There’s a great moment in the first issue just after Oliver is revealed to be the main beneficiary of the will. While Abby’s family bicker and argue amongst themselves, Oliver shouts his disapproval at their greed and simply storms out. This not only conveys the dramatic change in Oliver’s character which this story depicts – he cares more for justice and morality rather than the riches – but it makes him a more unique protagonist. As for the humour, it adds a nice light touch to the story and proves fully that Mike Barr would have been a skilled writer of Green Arrow’s character. As for a whole series, it’s hard to judge, but that wasn’t something that DC were prepared to allow for in 1983.
Neal Adams was always going to be a hard act to follow. He not only added his usual magic to Green Arrow, but he also defined the hero’s look for a new generation. Gone was the boxy plain costume worn by the Emerald Archer, and in came a Hawkeye-look with a variety of greens, along with facial hair. While there was no chance at all of a new makeover, it would have been desirable for this miniseries to enjoy the same level of drama and artistic amazement which Adams brought. Sadly, this miniseries lacks that terribly. Trevor Von Eeden has never been a favourite of mine. His scratchy style of art may attract the love of some, but not me. But what’s more offensive of his work here is the complete lack of clear storytelling, let alone its lack of energy or gusto. It can be difficult to even work out what’s occurring in some panels, while on other occasions scenes which should be dramatic or of note are conveyed by dry storytelling which adds little at all. Dick Giordano – a masterful inker – tries his best and does, to his credit, polish some of Von Eeden’s work, but the fundamental flaw of static storytelling lurks continually. It’s a shame, but it isn’t memorably awful at the very least.
VERDICT
Overall then, Green Arrow’s first miniseries is forgotten and it’s not surprising to learn why. What starts as an intriguing mystery sinks to become cliched bundle of plot, some of which is linked to the story’s conclusion, while others drift into the aether. Barr’s treatment of Count Vertigo is certainly a bad move, while other aspects fail to either satisfy fantastically or disappoint deeply. In short, despite the art and a few of Barr’s plot choices, this miniseries won’t be remembered for much. It was for Mike Grell to put a new and fresh face on Green Arrow for the 1980s, not Mike Barr…
Next Week: Justice League: Darkseid War Part One (Justice League (vol 2) 40-44, DC Sneak Peak Justice League). Written by Geoff Johns, with art by Kevin Maguire, Phil Jimenez, Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Scott Kollins, Jason Fabok, Jim Lee, and Scott Williams.
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